BurlCo man sentenced to 18-months for defrauding charity

TRENTON — A director of operations at a non-profit organization’s warehouse was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday.

Sean J. Smith, 38, of Mount Holly pleaded guilty on Nov. 15, 2012 to one count of mail fraud, he was sentenced on Thursday. According to the release issued by the U.S. attorney’s office, Smith defrauded the Clothes for Kids Sake Inc. (Clothes for Kids) charity of $101,927.

Smith admitted in court that he took the money by making it appear as though employees were working for Clothes for Kids and entitled to wages even though those employees had either left or never worked there. According to the release, Smith made it appear that two employees were entitled to compensation of $59,361, all of which was directly deposited into his own bank accounts between May 2011 and August 2012. Smith used the money on various personal expenses, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

In January of 2012, Smith manually changed the direct deposit information for approximately seven employees who had stopped working for him at the Mount Laurel warehouse. Smith made it appear as though the employees were continuing to work for Clothes for Kids, he took in $42,566 during that period.

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In addition to receiving an 18-month sentence, Smith was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $117,615 in restitution to victims of his offense.